1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for and a method of enhancing a color temperature in a color image, and more particularly, to an apparatus for and a method of adaptively enhancing a color temperature in a specific area of an input color image in a digital TV and computer-based image processor so that a viewer can see a clearer and fresher displayed image than an original image.
2. Description of the Related Art
A correlated color temperature (CCT) of white in an image gives a very high visual effect. For example, in a news-type image, a blue color background with a high color temperature can allow a viewer to see the news being broadcast clearer than an image having a background with a low color temperature.
For a similar reason, in a well-known cleaning method, a fluorescent substance which is added to a general synthetic detergent remains in a piece of cloth after cleaning, absorbs ultraviolet energy of sunbeams, and radiates ultraviolet energy in a blue wavelength range in the visual area, thereby highlighting a cleaning degree of the piece of cloth.
By the same token, the color temperature of a white color area in a displayed image is set to be 9300K in a conventional chromaticity diagram of general televisions, higher than a standard color temperature of 6500K of the general televisions so that a user feels less tired and works with the displayed image efficiently for a long period of time.
Accordingly, the standard color temperature of the televisions is set to 10000K in many Asian countries during manufacturing the televisions so as to increase the color temperature of the white color area of the displayed image, thereby simply obtaining the above-described effect. However, in the image obtained by such method, color temperatures of all color areas increase, thereby causing an image quality of some color areas, for example, skin color, to be lowered too much as compared with an original image.